Slavikai (Sloviki, Slowiki) is a township 20 km west of Šakiai, on the border with what was East Prussia. In World War One, after Russian armies were finally pushed out of East Prussia in early 1915, Slavikai was taken by units of 31. Infanterie-Division at 3 pm on February 9, 1915.
After the German army’s withdrawal from Russia at the end of 1918, Slavikai with the rest of the Užnemunis or western Suvalkija enjoyed relative peace.
In czarist times, Slavikai seems to have acquired a postal facility [as Sloviki] shortly before the onset of the war. After Lithuania’s independence Slavikai was opened with the status of an agency (agentūra) and was operative from December 20, 1920. It was housed in a pharmacy, its manager (vedėjas) being the local pharmacist Pranas Rubikas.
For stamps, Slavikai had Fourth Berlin Issue, the Sėjėjas Issue etc. At first, cancelling was done by using a two-liner cachet showing place and date. In an earlier version of the date-line the year was composed of arabic numerals, e.g. “21”.
In a later version the year was written in Roman fashion, e.g. “XXI”.
So far, no other provisional markings are known. A standard calendar-type postmarker was provided a few months later.
Known provisional markings:
Cancelling by two-liner cachet, year arabic:
10 2 21 single, Berlin IV 10 [colln. Doniela]Cancelling by two-liner cachet, year Roman:
17 2 XXI singles, Berlin IV 30 [colln. Liesis]